FBI tracing hijackers' Georgia steps

Posted: Friday, October 19, 2001

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LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- The FBI is examining the tracks of at least three hijackers who spent time in Georgia in the months before the Sept. 11 attacks, including two who practiced flying outside Atlanta.

Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi, believed to have crashed separate planes into the World Trade Center, visited a Gwinnett County flight school twice earlier this year, renting a small plane for one hour each time, workers there told the FBI.

And the owner of a Decatur travel agency told investigators that she sold Ziad Jarrah, who was aboard the flight that crashed in rural Pennsylvania, a round-trip ticket to Germany in March.

Once in late February and once in early March, Atta and al-Shehhi rented and flew a single-engine Piper Warrior plane from Advanced Aviation, based along Briscoe Field in Gwinnett County, company president Bruce Buell said.

The men were accompanied by an instructor on their first flight and flew alone the second time, Buell said. They paid $171 total in cash, according to the flight school, which provided computer records to the FBI two days after the attacks.

Flight school employees said Atta and al-Shehhi were well-dressed and polite, briefly engaging in small talk on their two visits.

"They were Westernized," Buell said. "They were obviously familiar with American customs, mannerisms. They didn't come in robes and turbans, that sort of thing."

Buell alerted the FBI after dispatcher Chrissy Ross recognized Atta's name in news accounts Sept. 13, when authorities released the names of the 19 men they believe carried out the suicide hijackings.

Ross said the men produced pilot licenses obtained in Florida and were proficient fliers. Neither man acted suspicious, she said, and she felt chills when FBI agents later showed her pictures of the hijackers.

"It brought tears to my eyes," she said. "There was nothing to notice about these guys, nothing to make me think they'd blow up buildings."

The FBI has talked to managers of an extended-stay motel in Decatur, an eastern Atlanta suburb, where the two men are believed to have stayed in February and March. Motel managers declined to discuss their FBI interviews.

Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks has also provided the bureau information about terror suspects' bank accounts. The bank declined to discuss details of the accounts.

"Nothing about the way these accounts were opened or maintained was unusual or aroused our suspicion," bank spokesman Barry Koling said.

The FBI and Georgia authorities have repeatedly declined public comment on specifics of the investigation.

Later in March, Jarrah visited Skyglo Enterprises travel agency and bought a round-trip to Dusseldorf, Germany, agency owner Joy White said. Jarrah paid $494 cash for the KLM flight and picked up the tickets March 29, the day before his departure, she said.

White provided the FBI paper records, including one sheet on which Jarrah had printed his name. White said the man was courteous and told her he lived nearby. Even with a thick accent and an international reservation, he did not stand out, she said.

"We're right by Emory and the CDC, and it's a diverse international community," she said. "We do a lot of international travels -- Africa, Asia, all over the place."

Atta and al-Shehhi apparently returned to metro Atlanta this summer. Managers of an LA Fitness gym in Lawrenceville told the FBI the men worked out there on one-month guest memberships.

Atta worked out periodically from July 19 to early August, and al-Shehhi worked out from July 19 to late August, assistant manager Derrick Johnson said.

The men told gym managers they were cousins. The FBI has said it believes al-Shehhi is a cousin or nephew of Atta.